SHUT DOWN AND OUT OF BUSINESS?
Closures: Hair and nail salons, restaurants wonder if they’ll make it through California’s strict new rules
When a new COVID-19 shelter-inplace order hits most of the Bay Area over the next few days, it will be yet another blow to restaurants, hair salons and other local businesses struggling to hold on after more than eight months of constantly shifting restrictions.
Restaurants that have invested thousands of dollars building parklets, setting up tents and buying heaters to accommodate outdoor diners will have to close all tables and go back to takeout and delivery only. Barbershops and hair and nail salons, which had only recently reopened after a long and excruciating shutdown, will close again. So will zoos and museums.
Sending shock waves through those industries, health officers from Alameda, Contra Costa, San Francisco, Santa Clara and Marin counties and the city of Berkeley on Friday announced they’ll shut down over the next few days. That was a nasty surprise to some business owners who, after hearing Gov. Gavin Newsom’s plans to shut the Bay Area down later this month, thought they’d have more time. Now, some aren’t sure they’ll survive
another closure.
Eliminating sit- down service likely will force some restaurants into temporary “hibernation,” while others close permanently, according to Laurie Thomas, executive director of San Francisco’s Golden Gate Restaurant Association, which represents hundreds of restaurants in the city.
“The majority of restaurants simply cannot make it financially on takeout alone,” she said in a statement. “With the uncertainty around further federal support, San Francisco restaurants, their employees, and their families will suffer greatly by having no choice but to close for a period of time.”
But even as some establishments were reeling, others were breathing a sigh of relief. Pete Mulvihill, coowner of Green Apple Books in San Francisco, had worried the new orders would force him to return to the days when he could sell books online only, or outside on the curb. Instead, the new orders allow retail shops to continue indoor operations at 20% capacity. Bay Area stores in most counties currently can operate at 25% capacity — so the new rules won’t pose much of an additional burden.
“The biggest relief is that they’ve decided our operations are relatively safe,” said Mulvihill, who is gearing up for critical holiday
sales. “It’s a relief to know that public health officials don’t suspect that retail is a spreader with all the modifications — with masks and the distancing and the ventilation.”
To help establishments struggling with the latest round of COVID restrictions, Newsom on Monday unveiled a new relief package that allows businesses to apply for tax credits and deferrals, loans and grants. And after a long stalemate, there’s been some movement in Congress this week around another federal stimulus package that could include money for small business loans, unemployment benefits and renter protections.
Helen Nguyen only recently received approval from the city of Cupertino — after a month of bureaucratic tussles — to put up a
tent to seat 12 diners outside her Pho Ha Noi restaurant. She estimates she’s spent more than $45,000 on tents, heaters and permits to make her outdoor spaces in Cupertino and San Jose comfortable for winter diners. Now, Nguyen’s bracing as Santa Clara County shuts down outdoor dining Sunday night.
The first time the pandemic closed her restaurant, Nguyen sold her jewelry to survive. This time, at least, she has some money left over from her federal Paycheck Protection Program loan.
Elia Torres, on the other hand, said when she closes her downtown Menlo Park hair salon again, it likely will be for the last time.
“We were six or seven of us, and now we’re just four,” Torres said of hairdressers at Textures Hair De
sign. “This is a busy time, so when we close it’s going to be very bad for us.”
San Mateo County is not locking down now with the rest of the Bay Area but likely will be forced to later this month under Newsom’s statewide order.
In Mountain View, Yen Zo of Noble Nails already is struggling. A nother shutdown will be “terrible for the business,” she said. Many of her employees are thinking of leaving, and with the salon operating at about 40% of normal business, Zo doesn’t have enough money for rent. She’s been trying to work out a deal with her landlord but so far has had no luck.
“If we close, we lose money and we don’t have enough to pay the rent or the utilities,” Zo said. “And we may lose customers permanently in the future. It’s
terrible.”
The Oakland Zoo is worried too. After losing $2 million a month during the earlier shutdown and facing potential permanent closure, the zoo reopened in July. Things were going well, said Erin Harrison, the zoo’s vice president of marketing. They’d nearly sold out of tickets for the evening Glowfari event, which was set to run through Jan. 17 and features illuminated lanterns shaped like zoo animals.
Adhering to strict capacity limits, the zoo had yet to report any COVID-19 outbreaks.
Even so, they’ll have to close Monday and remain closed until at least Jan. 4. Now the zoo is working on extending Glowfari after the shutdown ends, so everyone who purchased tickets will have a chance to attend the event.
“We were recovering. And we were pleased with where we were,” Harrison said. “So this will obviously be another hit.”
Rodney Baca of The Shop by Chef Baca said another lockdown would be the latest in a series of blows to his eatery at the San Pedro Square Market in downtown San Jose, where most customers take their food outside to the large courtyard. Business is slow. Lunchtime traffic has dried up with most people working from home, and he’s lost months of business at SAP Center, where he had a stand, with that facility shut down since March.
Given those losses, outdoor dining “means the world to us,” he said. “The little amount of business we are doing is all based on customers being able to sit on the patio.”